Sales Boy

There was a co-worker at my last job who was an ass to everyone. Not just me. He was always negative, came in smelling like smoke, and I am sure he drank during lunch. He was always telling what to do and how to do it. Nothing was good enough for him.

Answering objections is a common challenge to sales people and one you should be familiar with. Potential customers may say they don't need a product or they already have a supplier. These are general objections to which you will have a ready answer in terms of the quality and price of the product you're selling, for example.

When giving your answer the key is not to admit to inadequacies, but to focus on meeting, and surmounting challenges which form a regular part of the salesperson's job. An example of a skill, or lesson learned as a result of overcoming a difficulty is seen as indicative of a positive and determined attitude.

I enjoy both. At my last job, the schedule was dependent on the customer requests. At Christmas we always are very busy and have a lot of orders to ship out. I really enjoyed that time because everyone is in a good mood, things are festive, we make it a point to take turns bringing in treats, and after Christmas we usually celebrate. At other times, I have been asked by my manager to go clean the back room. The back room is filled with inventory that hasn't been put away and it really is a one person job. I can look forward to this time as well. I just bring my iPod, put in my headphones and get into a zone.

☛ Why do you wish to take up a career in sales?

☛ Do you get a buzz from selling, and what is your favourite aspect of the job?

☛ How do you overcome customer rejection of a product?

☛ Tell me about some of your previous customers and your relationships with them.

☛ Have you lost a client, and if so do you know why?

☛ What is the largest audience you have personally addressed?

☛ Tell me about the most recent contract you have won.

☛ Tell me about your considered best sales pitch and examples where it has worked well.

My long-term goal is to be an expert in my discipline. I would like to be the "go to" person for what I do. When there is a problem, people think of me when it comes to solving that. I don't worry about the title so much as having a rounded skill set. I want to be effective not only internally within the company but also externally with clients both large and small. I know it will take a lot of work, but if it was easy, everyone would do it.

☛ Dedication

☛ Initiative

☛ Innovation

☛ Motivation

☛ Enthusiam

☛ etc

The huge organisations succeed because they work in teams. An individual needs to have a very high level of understanding to be able to perform in a team. The interviewers always seek team players. If they ask you whether you are one, you should be able to tell them how good you are while working in a team. Give them examples of college events where you have actively participated.

For the last five years I've worked as a sales engineer for XYZ company. For the last three years I been the top producing sales engineer in my division. Notwithstanding the success I've achieved, one of the challenges I've faced time and again is trying to convince prospective clients that they should swith from your company's platform to XYZ's platform. Your company has a stellar reputation for quality and customer service, and you're unquestionably the leader in this industry. XYZ knows it, I know it and the industry knows it. I'm confident, if given the opportunity to sell your products, I could be one of the very top producers for your company.

This is another tricky question that is often posed to freshers during interviews. The interviewers try to gauge your understanding of different ideologies. Picking any particular ideology could be risky during an interview. The interviewer may be a staunch socialist and if you pick democracy, you may have a tough time putting your point across. You need to pick an amalgamation of different ideologies that help organisations function efficiently. Such an answer can keep you safe even while tackling tough interviewers.

Here you could pick up on where you left off with "what are your strengths", i.e. relating all your skills and attributes to the responsibilities you would undertake in the role. If you're a clear and confident speaker, for example, and your job will involve answering lots of telephones, then this is the sort of thing you'd need to mention.

The firms try to do cost cutting by paying low wages to freshers. You need to remember that your initial wage decides your later progress. You need to negotiate to make sure you get a decent first salary. You may have a tough time convincing the interviewers why you deserve the pay you are quoting. Freshers are just out of the college and they lack work ethics or understanding of the work culture. The company has to spend time, money and effort to train freshers into eligible employees. This is the reason why the companies are hesitant to pay a good wage to a fresher. If you negotiate well and are able to convince why you deserve a better pay, you may get the pay you have quoted.

This is a tough thing to be asked; try to be positive, but don't be afraid of throwing in one slightly less positive one. . Obviously if you want to through out three similar positives, then go for it. It's your prerogative.

Examples:

☛ Motivated, cooperative, cautious.

☛ Enthusiastic, committed, decisive.

☛ etc

No matter what you really believe, the answer they want is yes. And prepare to give examples. "Even if you've hit a stretch of bad luck, you must find the nuggets of gold in your life,"

I worked for four years as a door-to-door salemen selling pest control contracts in Atlanta, Georgia. Rejection was the name of the game in that industry. Salesmen that let the rejection get to them were ineffective, and often quit. Successful door-to-door salesmen recognized that rejection was just the nature of the job--it was nothing personal. Loosing a sale isn't fun. But I look at rejection as an opportunity to learn and improve my sales technique.

Be honest when asked a question like this.

I typically state something along the lines of "overly dogmatic". - anonymous

Hehehe, for me it'd probably be that I don't like to admit when I've made a mistake - JR